Axelrod: “There’s this reign of terror going on in the Republican Party”

posted at 8:41 am on July 13, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

New tone? David Axelrod spoke with National Journal’s Beth Reinhard in a phone interview, excerpts of which were posted a few minutes ago. In the interview, Axelrod decried the “politics of obstruction” — and then compared Republicans to Robespierre:

NJ President Obama has been vague about what he would accomplish in his second term.

AXELROD The president believes you build a strong, sustainable economy by building a strong, viable growing middle class. You have to continue to upgrade our educational system and improve access to higher education and technical training. We have to invest in research and development and the kinds of things that will create high-end, advanced manufacturing jobs. We have to continue to open up markets all over the world for American products. We need to continue with an all-of-the-above energy policy and really push for the development of all sources of energy. Immigration reform is an unfinished piece of business. But the principal thing we need to be pursuing is a very aggressive strategy of putting people back to work.

NJ How would the president accomplish those goals with a Republican-controlled House and possibly Senate?

AXELROD They have had a policy of obstruction from the day the president arrived. When the president is reelected, it will be a rejection of the politics of obstruction. There’s this reign of terror going on in the Republican Party.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to hear this kind of rhetoric from the flailing and failing Obama campaign. Axelrod and his cohorts have gotten outfought, outraised, and outclassed in two short months after having the field all to themselves for over a year. Yesterday, the campaign accused Mitt Romney of being a felon, which prompted a demand for an apology that will not be coming forthwith, almost assuredly.

Axelrod is not just a cheap demagogue, he’s also a cheap small-d democrat. Voters sent a Republican-controlled House to Washington specifically to force a change in policy, a message that Axelrod and Barack Obama ignored. The House, by the way, has passed budgets and more than a dozen jobs bills. It’s the Democratic-controlled Senate that has been the obstruction, refusing to pass budgets so that conference committees can resolve issues, and ignoring the House jobs bills altogether. Obama has shown zero leadership on this issue, griping about Republican dissent while ignoring completely that his own party has yet to cast one single supporting vote in three tries on his own budget proposals, and won’t even attempt to hold a vote on Obama’s tax proposals.

The actual “reign of terror,” for the sake of those as historically illiterate as Axelrod, took place during the French Revolution, when it turned bloody. The revolutionaries became as despotic as the monarchy they deposed, executing thousands for dissent and purported betrayal of the revolution. It’s actually the opposite of what Republicans are doing in Congress by opposing Obama’s agenda and attempting to push forward their own. That’s as ignorant an analogy as one might see in American politics.

The real terror for Axelrod is that he’s about to lose an election, and his campaign still hasn’t figured out what its theme is yet. The strong stench of desperation is in the air, as well as the even more pungent stench of demagoguery. Axelrod should be ashamed, but won’t be.

“If you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.”

My sister who used to be active on DKos, go to Yearly Kos, and who loves to tell me about how only Republicans have ever committed vote fraud, uses Robespierrette as her nom-du-net.

The left loves the French Revolution more than the American one, especially since they all seem to assume that they will be the ones doing the butchering, never the butchered.

LibraryGryffon on July 13, 2012 at 9:19 AM

I agree. Democrats are NOTORIOUS for their projection. The things of which they accuse Republicans are the very things of which they themselves are either already guilty, or they have spent considerable amounts of time contemplating.

So Axelrod is revealing that he and others have seriously contemplated a “reign of terror”.

We do not need legislation to repeal Obamacare. Obamacare is unconstitutional. All that is required is nullification by the states. Repeal is for legitimate law.

Dante on July 13, 2012 at 10:10 AM

No it was ruled constitutional, in case you missed that…maybe a stupid law, but congress can pass stupid laws that are constitutional.
Now, where did you get your law degree? Box of Cheerios??
It’s the commerce clause that will cause it problems…sheeesh, this guy dante is like 0 for 8 at bats this morning.

AXELROD They have had a policy of obstruction from the day the president arrived. When the president is reelected, it will be a rejection of the politics of obstruction. There’s this reign of terror going on in the Republican Party.

I guess that he forgot that the Commies controlled Congress for two years. If voters weren’t stupid, they would never get away with that kind of BS.

This is a release from the Ministry of Truth in Orwell terms. It almost feels like the Obama gang are using “Atlas Shrugged” as their game plan….following the team that gave the book Mr. Thompson. Man, if they accuse the right of an act, you can bet your bottom dollar that the left are engaged in that very act.

Shouldn’t it be a reign of terror by the Republican Party instead of a reign of terror in the Republican Party? Mr. Astroturf makes it sound as if the Republican Party is fighting with itself instead of trying to depose Emperor Barry.

Obama has shown zero leadership on this issue, griping about Republican dissent while ignoring completely that his own party has yet to cast one single supporting vote in three tries on his own budget proposals, and won’t even attempt to hold a vote on Obama’s tax proposals.

Axelrod isn’t the genius he was in ’08, is he? Nasty as hell, low, dirty and dangerous, just like the rest of the Obama filth. They are doing their best to stir hatred, and my bet, to stir up violence as well. As is said, be careful what you wish for.

Its no wonder Axelrod got ‘the reign of terror’ wrong. He’s prime example of the kind of person that the education he mentioned produces. ‘..keep improving education’. For that sentiment to issue from the lips of a person who embraces the ideology that is singularly responsible for education, from kindergarten through grad school in this nation, is so pitifully poor and still declining is terrifying.

Our graduates increasingly know NOTHING of value in the workplace and have little grasp of history or current events…. unless of course they work for Marvel Comics or as a Zombie Hunter because boutique classes are offered, for credit to graduate, in ‘Marvel Comics’ and in ‘Zombie Studies’. Of course, boring old subjects like American History and Economics are no longer required, so almost half of college students surveyed have no idea that George Washington was our first president.

These are the people we are entrusting with the future of our nation and our planet. These are the people we keep telling that they are so important and so very smart.

Jonah Goldberg is right. We need to tell the young just how ‘frickin’ stupid’ they are and we need to do it soon and often.

Shouldn’t it be a reign of terror by the Republican Party instead of a reign of terror in the Republican Party? Mr. Astroturf makes it sound as if the Republican Party is fighting with itself instead of trying to depose Emperor Barry.

No it was ruled constitutional, in case you missed that…maybe a stupid law, but congress can pass stupid laws that are constitutional.
Now, where did you get your law degree? Box of Cheerios??
It’s the commerce clause that will cause it problems…sheeesh, this guy dante is like 0 for 8 at bats this morning.

right2bright on July 13, 2012 at 10:45 AM

You should read the Constitution some time and pay close attention to the Supremacy Clause. You should also look into United States history, specifically how the Supremacy Clause was argued and explained to the ratifying conventions, as well as the use of nullification in our history.

7. Deficit spending? Democrat O’bama has spent more than all of our previous Presidents combined. F-

As for the rest of your silly claims, who cares? I’ve already demolished your fallacious “argument” with the seven credible cites above.

Thanks for playing!

Del Dolemonte on July 13, 2012 at 11:05 AM

1 – 5 were signed into law by the Republican George Bush.

6. was signed into law by the Republican Ronald Reagan.

7. you are trying to deflect and steer the focus away from the fact that Republicans have engaged in raising our deficit, raising our debt, and increasing spending under their administrations and under their legislative control.

Shouldn’t it be a reign of terror by the Republican Party instead of a reign of terror in the Republican Party? Mr. Astroturf makes it sound as if the Republican Party is fighting with itself instead of trying to depose Emperor Barry.

eyedoc on July 13, 2012 at 11:07 AM

his grammar is actually correct because he expressed this idiocy many times… his idea is that basically there are some reasonable people in the Republican party/House who would work with the President and cross over the aisle when it comes to certain legislative initiatives, but they are ‘terrorized’ and intimidated by some in their own party (the tea-party-ish kind, get that) into submission to vote for the ‘radical’ GOP initiatives (such as cutting spending, putting together a meaningful budget and vote for it, etc :-) …he said that many times, when he was asked what could possibly Obama achieve in a second term assuming that the House stay the same and Reps win the senate – and each time he responded with this wacko idea that a second term of this president would be ‘liberating’ for those Reps in Congress who would actually work with the president id he gets legitimized a second time…most cretin thing that only Axelrod can come up with, but then he is what/who he is, a pathological liar and a patented idiot…

I believe that the bill was first passed in the Senate. I’m no legal scholar, but it seems to me that would have made it unconstitutional in of itself.

cajunpatriot on July 13, 2012 at 10:49 AM

Not exactly, but nearly so. Pinky Reid took a bill that had passed the House, stripped all the guts out creating a “shell” bill, then stuffed all the Obamacare garbage into it. So, technically, the bill was first passed by the House. Fargin sneaky bastage underhanded dirty trickery, but still apparently “constitutional” in that regard.

7. you are trying to deflect and steer the focus away from the fact that Republicans have engaged in raising our deficit, raising our debt, and increasing spending under their administrations and under their legislative control.

Dante on July 13, 2012 at 12:26 PM

Sorry, Lew, but you used the plural version of the word Republican in regards to political parties “damaging America”.

In weak response, you’re suddenly reduced to affixing all blame to the two Republican Presidents who signed the legislation, while ignoring the guilt of the Democrats who actually created the legislation.

And I illustrated, numerous times, that the Democrats had much more to do with introducing those pieces of legislation that you dislike than did the Republicans. And many of those Democrats voted for them.

In the first 3 years and 2 months under pResident O’bama, the national debt increased more than it had during the entire 8 years Bush was in office.

And how is correctly noting the Fact that O’bama’s spent more than all previous Presidents combined “deflecting” and “steering the focus away”? All I did was state Fact, which is a word you know absolutely nothing about. After all, here on HA you have regularly and repeatedly ignored factual information, simply because it doesn’t jibe with your bizarre world view.

Oh yeah, invest in better education and training even though there are no jobs to go on to.

Policy of obstruction? Would that be anything like Senile Reidiculous’s policy of obstruction in the deadbeat Doom-controlled Senate that refuses to even consider House-passed jobs bills and hasn’t passed a budget in 1,172 days?

Sounds like Axillord should note the actual “reign of terror” as you point out, Ed, and hope that a real one never comes to pass bcuz he might be up near the top of the list with Baraka and Moochy when the revolutionaries come a-calling.

And you are deliberately ignoring the clear role that REPUBLICANS played in passing all of the above. For instance, it wasn’t just Bush on TARP. Go back and review Paul Ryan’s impassioned speech on the House floor in favor of TARP. For goodness sake, the tea party was formed as much because of the anger that conservatives had with RINO’s as anything else.

If you want to say that Democrats are MORE at fault than Republicans for the state of the country, well, ok I would agree with you because there are some good Republicans out there. But not nearly enough to keep the crap that Dante referenced from being passed. It seems like you are going out of your way to give the Republicans a free pass on these issues and most conservatives that I know would disagree with your analysis.

Sorry, Lew, but you used the plural version of the word Republican in regards to political parties “damaging America”.

In weak response, you’re suddenly reduced to affixing all blame to the two Republican Presidents who signed the legislation, while ignoring the guilt of the Democrats who actually created the legislation.

And I illustrated, numerous times, that the Democrats had much more to do with introducing those pieces of legislation that you dislike than did the Republicans. And many of those Democrats voted for them.

In the first 3 years and 2 months under pResident O’bama, the national debt increased more than it had during the entire 8 years Bush was in office.

And how is correctly noting the Fact that O’bama’s spent more than all previous Presidents combined “deflecting” and “steering the focus away”? All I did was state Fact, which is a word you know absolutely nothing about. After all, here on HA you have regularly and repeatedly ignored factual information, simply because it doesn’t jibe with your bizarre world view.

Weak-

Del Dolemonte on July 13, 2012 at 1:47 PM

As usual, you are completely out of your league.

Yes, I did use the plural Republicans. That means more than one. I highlighted just a few examples, but you only picked out a few that the occurred under two presidents, so I responded to each one of your itemized “critiques”. That is in no way affixing all blame to just two people. The president, as I assume you know (and believe me, this is a big assumption on my part) has veto power. Law does not get passed by Congress alone, no matter who wrote it and no matter who sponsored it.

Two of your too-many-to-list problems are: 1) you are caught up in this silly, R vs. D binary opposition thinking, and refuse to even entertain the idea that Republicans are harming the country, and 2) you are arguing scale (“oh, yeah. well the Democrats did this, too, but it cost more”), thinking this somehow absolves any transgressions on the part of Republicans, and which ties back to number one.

Two States were able to nullify the act, one (Wisconsin) overturned it in their Supreme Court only to have the Federal Supreme Court reinstate it. The other (Vermont) ordered the enforcing agency to instead assist the slaves.
Obammacare uses the Federal Government as the enforcing agency and are out of reach of state lawmakers. There was also jury nullification of the Fugitive Slave Act, but as most of the ACA is civil it not likely to be effective in this case.

You have to continue to upgrade our educational system and improve access to higher education and technical training. We have to invest in research and development and the kinds of things that will create high-end, advanced manufacturing jobs.

tell that to the indept to their eyeballs college graduates with no job prospects

The Republican party isn’t much of a source for a reign of terror. Such a phrase draws pictures of sword swinging maniacs, tigers with red teeth and claws, threats to life and limb. The only picture that comes to my mind when I think of the Republican leadership is maybe field mice, or the GEICO gecko.

No, the party that fits the description when it comes to reign of terror is the Democrat party, at least in my mind. Who wouldn’t recoil in abject panic at the sight of maniacal Nancy Pelosi, David Axelrod, or Richard Trumka, frothing at the mouth? Not to mention the Won, himself, with his toothy smile and cold eyes.

I think someone has their descriptions reversed. I just hope Mitt will prove to be as ruthless as a campaigner for the Presidency as he was a businessman. We could use a few red teeth and claws right now.

Reign of terror, my arse. They’re hardly even a THREAT to you anymore, let along a ‘terror’.

The only thing terrifying is that there are hundreds of thousands of people like Del DeMented who think the Republicans are going to save their unpaid shill butts…and there’s no voter demographic big enough to override them.

A reign of terror. I hope you are afraid. You sound like you’re scared witless. Of course the despot is the man in power who has decided that this messy will of the people stuff is too much bother. So he’ll just obey the fierce urgency of now and flout the will of Congress on matters like immigration and states’ rights. A man whose family lives it up as his wife cries, “Let them eat cake!”

Let’s hope this reign of terror runs its course. Let’s hope it sweeps aside the self-styled nobility and ushers back in a society of the people, by the people and for the people once again.